Frans Nielsen had a first-period goal for New York, which has lost four in a row overall and hasn't won in Pittsburgh in almost four years.

The Penguins have won 12 consecutive home games against the Islanders.

Nabokov said he sustained a minor lower-body injury in the first period that worsened as the game progressed. Heading into his team's first shootout of the season, New York coach Jack Capuano had to turn to DiPietro, who hadn't appeared in a game yet this season and whose previous appearance in Pittsburgh ended with him sustaining a broken cheekbone from a punch from Penguins backup goalie Brent Johnson in February.

DiPietro's 19-10 record in shootouts coming in was one of the best in the league among active goalies, and his .732 save percentage was tied for ninth among active goalies who had appeared in at least 15 shootouts.

According to STATS LLC this was the fifth time since the NHL instituted the shootout in 2005 that a goaltender came into the game for the shootout after having not played during regulation or overtime.

"I'm always ready," said DiPietro, "That's what they pay me to do, right?"

"(DiPietro) was great and actually almost had Malkin's there," Capuano said. "But obviously, if you don't score in the shootout you're not going to win."

Malkin improved to 2-for-2 this season in shootouts despite entering the campaign 8-for-30 lifetime. He had struggled at times so much that the Penguins went through stretches where they rarely used him despite his status as one of the game's most gifted scorers and stickhandlers.

"He's got great moves in practice that he shows off," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "Tonight, that was a spectacular move. He had to change direction when DiPietro made the poke check. ... He made an awesome move. I think it's him having a little more swagger, trying some of the moves he does have. He's done it a couple times this year. Tonight was just outstanding."

The Islanders led 1-0 after two, and Martin extended their lead to 2-0 just 45 seconds into the third for his first goal since March 22.

"I think it's mandatory if you have a 2-0 lead in the third period," said Martin, "that you have to come out with a win."

Especially against Pittsburgh, which hadn't won a game it trailed after two periods since April 3, 2010.

"You knew that they were going to come at some point in the third period," Nabokov said of the Penguins. "Either with 10 minutes to go, five minutes to go or right away."

Try 44 seconds later, when Kunitz began the comeback with his third of the season, off a pass from by Pascal Dupuis.

Neal tied it 2:46 after that while on the power play, finishing a pretty sequence of passes from Malkin to Kunitz to Neal. The goal was Neal's ninth, tying him with Toronto's Phil Kessel for the league lead.

"We didn't feel like the game was getting away from us being down one," said Kunitz, "but as soon as they scored that second one, that panic button hit a little more and we picked up the tempo."

Game notes

Neal's goal was only the second 5-on-4 goal the Islanders have allowed this season. Pittsburgh has not allowed any. The teams are the top two in the NHL in penalty-killing percentage. ... The Penguins have outscored the Islanders 49-19 during the home winning streak against them. Pittsburgh is 17-2-2 in its past 21 against New York overall. ... The most recent time a goalie entered a game for the first time for the shootout was Toronto's Curtis Joseph on Oct. 21, 2008, against Anaheim.